Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Civilization Has Careened Into the Gutter

The Reno Gazette-Journal has an editorial today arguing that the SMS killer's name should be disclosed. What is unbelievable are the comments follow the FB post.

I had to respond because I was so pissed off:

Civilization has hit rock bottom when you have commenters who think that this "poor kid" who murdered a teacher, wounded others, and caused a lifetime of PTSD for dozens, if not hundreds, of people, should remain "anonymous." What in the HELL is the matter with you? Is it because he is dead we should give him a pass? If he were alive, you BET his name would publicized ALL OVER the WORLD, and it will be anyway because it is on Twitter. I didn't have trouble at all finding it out. You commenters who support a disturbed killer and his negligent parents ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You have this idea that somehow he was justified in KILLING people to solve whatever problem he was supposed to have had. ANY crime, no matter the age of the perpetrator, is a matter of PUBLIC RECORD. End of story.

You have killers as young as 10 years of age whose names are made public. In this day and age of the internet and the social networks, there is NO way things like this can be kept secret, at least not for very long.

This isn't something that happened at home or in an alley--this was in a public area where there were dozens of witnesses and hundreds of others nearby.

Snip from the editorial:

If anything, this secrecy elevates the shooter. He is the unnamed bad guy, the 12-year-old boy to fear.

State law is clear: The name is public information.

Our state’s public records laws were established based on the belief that a more informed society is a better society. The Reno Gazette-Journal concurs.

Refusing to release the name serves no law enforcement or investigative purpose. No reasonable expectation of privacy exists in this case.

Unless the identification is made known, there is no way to independently research why the student did what he did, apart from being disturbed and having access to a gun.